Six months after Hurricane Sandy slammed into the Eastern Seaboard, thousands of small-business owners up and down the coast are struggling to get back on their feet.

More than 3,340 small businesses and nonprofits across the region have received $337 million in federal emergency loans since the storm, according to the latest U.S. Small Business Administration data. About 200,000 have filed insurance claims for damaged offices, commercial-vehicle and other business assets, according to estimates by the Insurance Information Institute, a New York-based trade group.

Yet many others across the region suffered in ways that aren't reflected in those statistics. In Jersey City, N.J.,
Jessica Isaacs
was forced to push back the launch of her bakery by at least 26 weeks.
Debbie Lane
had to scramble to keep her family's Oyster Bay, N.Y., wine business from collapse.
Joann Thompson
of Ocean City, N.J., spent four grueling months renovating her interior design store.

Last November, The Wall Street Journal profiled these small-business owners weekly, as they coped with floods, power outages and lost inventory. Here's a look at how they're faring now.

Still Unable to Open

Jessica Isaacs, Cocoa Bakery, Jersey City, N.J.

Before Sandy, sales projection for 2013: $500,000

Post-Sandy, sales projection for 2013: $300,000 (-40%)

ENLARGE

The couple last November amid damage from superstorm Sandy.
Anthony DelMundo for The Wall Street Journal

When Sandy hit, Jessica Isaacs was just weeks away from realizing her dream of opening a bakery in a commercial space in Jersey City to sell her signature truffles and whoopee pies. Instead of planning a grand opening, Ms. Isaacs, 40 years old, had to remove six feet of water, a broken window, damaged furniture and debris that were left in the storm's wake.

She has spent about $15,000 so far on renovations to her 900-square-foot space, and the work is still continuing. "The bathroom is usable, but they still need to patch up a hole in the wall," says Ms. Isaacs, who was previously a pastry chef for the restaurant chain Nobu.

Still, she's managed to find some deals. A $20,000 espresso machine that she purchased secondhand for $9,000 was destroyed in the storm and has since been repaired for just $3,300, she says. Last month, she was granted tax-free status on a refrigerator, two freezers, three sinks and several tables through a program for businesses in distressed urban areas.

She applied for a low-interest business loan from her state's economic development division for Sandy victims, but was turned down, she says, because the loans were available only to businesses open for at least one year. Her three part-time employees have stood by her side, helping with bookkeeping, ordering inventory and running a rented kiosk at a local mall in December and January—without pay. And her landlord hasn't charged her for rent on the store, she says, adding that "there are a lot of vacancies on the property."

She expects her shop to finally be up and running by the end of the month, and now expects just $300,000 in total revenue this year, down 40% from the $500,000 she had expected if the store opened in November.

—Sarah E. Needleman

Back to 'Square One'

Debbie Lane, owner of Testa Wines of the World Ltd., Oyster Bay

First quarter sales 2012: $1.8 million

First quarter sales 2013: $1 million (-45%)

Debbie Lane says she is struggling to help her family's 50-year-old wine wholesale business regain the momentum that led to $8 million in annual sales in 2011.

What started as a banner year at Testa Wines of the World quickly fizzled in the months following the October storm, after floodwaters shut down the company's distribution hub, the 59-year-old owner says. The New Jersey warehouse, where the company stores a rotating inventory of 40,000 cases of wine, had no power until early 2013, causing delays in Testa's ability to get wine out to its customers—about 1,000 retailers, restaurants and hotels in New York City and 44 wholesalers.

In late December, Ms. Lane learned that 1,400 cases of Chiantis, Pinot Grigios and Chardonnays, which were left on a loading dock during the storm and damaged by floods, could only be sold for use in cooking or sauces at $4 per case, rather than an average of $70 per case on the market—a loss of about $92,400. Ms. Lane's insurer offered $10,000 to cover the cost of relabeling the bottles for sale, but not the loss of the wine inside them.

About a week after the storm, she also learned that the company's biggest supplier, the Argentine winery
Luigi Bosca,
was switching to a larger distributor. The label had accounted for more than 70% of sales. "That really pulled the rug out from under us," she says.

To kick-start the business, she is now "back at square one," traveling across the country to promote her company's wines. This week, for instance, she's tending a booth at an industry trade show in Orlando, Fla., to showcase South American Cabernets and Pinot Noirs. "If nothing else, I'll go down fighting," she adds.

—Angus Loten

'Like a Bad Dream'

Joann Thompson, Interiors by Joann, Ocean City

Anticipated Sandy-related expenses, as of late 2012: $150,000

Actual Sandy-related expenses so far: $200,000 (+ 33%)

Joann Thompson says the experience of rebuilding her flooded interior-design showroom "seems like a bad dream at this point, like it didn't really happen."

She spent four months renovating her 5,000-square-foot store. During the reconstruction, she and four employees set up a makeshift office on the second floor of the building so they could offer design-consulting services. Revenue fell only slightly from October to January because the store doesn't tend to get many customers in colder months. Locals, as a general rule, redesign their homes in the winter. But Ms. Thompson's warehouse wasn't affected and she was able to order and deliver furniture to clients.

Mirrors, plants and tabletop accessories that survived the flood sold quickly, though at a steep discount, she says. The store reopened in mid-February with new merchandise.

New customers who had heard about her business struggles have come to show their support, and as a result, business has been better than in recent years.

Today, the store has a new beige carpet and freshly painted walls in each room, including sea salt, gray, navy, celery, red and teal. The finishing touches, including new cabinetry in the back office, are under way.

She estimates that her out-of-pocket costs, mostly replacing damaged inventory, will reach $200,000—about $50,000 more than she originally anticipated in November.

While the rebuilding process was emotionally draining, the 68-year-old adds, it was worth it in the end, because she hopes her daughter, Lori, also a designer, will have a healthier business to take over after Ms. Thompson retires.

But Ms. Thompson cautions: "If it were to happen again, I'd never go through the rebuilding again. It was a tremendous amount of work."

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